Research and technological development

As a research institute located in the Northeast of Brazil, where still there is a high incidence of illness and death from infectious and parasitological co-existing with non-communicable chronic diseases, the Research Center Aggeu Magalhães (CPqAM), Fiocruz Pernambuco, is dedicated to the study of diseases such Dengue, Chagas disease, Schistosomiasis, Filariasis, Leishmaniasis, Plague and Tuberculosis. All of those are called neglected diseases because they affect thousands of people around the world, especially in the poorest countries, and have little commercial appeal to the private Pharmacistindustry.

For the Brazilian Public Health, the research focused on improving diagnostic methods and the development and the improvement of vaccines against these diseases are important tools for improving the health situation of the population. Thus, Fiocruz of Pernambuco has been conducting vigorous studies aiming the development of faster and effective diagnoses of Chagas disease, Schistosomiasis, Filariasis, Hantavirus, Leishmaniasis, Plague and Tuberculosis, among other illness. The center is also working on the development of vaccines against Dengue and Leishmaniasis, and trying to improve the existing vaccine against Yellow Fever.

The CPqAM also performs recognized work in other areas, developing research related to Malaria and Leprosy, among other ailments. The institution has been working in the development of ways to control the vectors, like Aedes aegypti, which transmits Dengue fever, and Culex quinquefasciatus, the transmitting agent of Filariasis. Another area which the institute has invested is the Epidemiology of infectious diseases such as AIDS, and chronic degenerative diseases, like Obesity, Cancer, Circulatory Diseases and Diabetes, besides working in the areas of policies, management, planning and evaluation of Public Health services, health surveillance and environmental health.

The institution has traditionally contributed for the studies in the fields of Epidemiology, Planning, Management and Evaluation of Services, Public Policy, Environmental Health and Quantitative Methods in Health. Throughout its trajectory, it has developed activities of education, training and technical cooperation with institutions of the Unified Health System (SUS), aiming to contribute to their consolidation and strengthening.

The permanent integration with services enables the achievement of critical reflections about the health models employed in Brazil and about the changes in epidemiological profiles, nutritional and demographic population, which still suffers from infectious and parasitological diseases, and, at the same time, is affected by the modern times diseases, such as Obesity, Diabetes, various types of Cancer and Cardio-Pulmonary diseases.Fiocruz Pernambuco conducts research on health information systems, with the expectation that the analyzed data reflect the problems and challenges being faced by the government. It also develops studies evaluating policies, programs and actions which link health with living, environmental and labor conditions. Moreover, it examines the municipal health management, identifying problems related to sector management, human resources, financing, surveillance actions, control of endemic diseases and the decentralization of health actions.

It also works with research and technological development in the areas of biostatistics, analysis of spatial and temporal data on health and geographic information systems applied to health. More recently, the center began to devote itself to studies related to indigenous health, to the phenomenon of violence in its various dimensions: road accidents, women, children, adolescents and elderly.

The researches, which generate scientific knowledge in order to improve the works of the Unified Health System (SUS) in Brazil, are developed within the following research lines:

Biology, Ecology and Technologies of monitoring and control of endemic vectors

Development and validation of diagnostic and therapeutic methods, applied to the Public Health

Studies on the Epidemiology and biology of endemic diseases

Studies of the determinants related to space / environment, aiming the analysis of processes and control of endemic diseases

The health of populations: Epidemiology, surveillance and control of acute and chronic diseases and health problems